Healing
by EmWorden
Summary: Katniss goes to the woods and has a nightmare. Haymitch finds and comforts her. Set after the end of Mockingjay, but before the epilogue. Rated for some language and violence. No Hayniss, just Everlark.


"Good morning honey," says Peeta, gently rubbing my shoulder to wake me up. He's sitting on the edge of our bed smiling down at me.

I rub my eyes and stretch. "Morning," I say tiredly.

"How'd you sleep?" Peeta asks pleasantly.

I think back to the night. "Pretty good actually. Better than usual," I recall.

"Any nightmares?" he asks.

This has become a regular question that we ask each other in the morning. I try to remember what nightmares I had, or dreams for that matter, and nothing comes to me. "I don't think I had any nightmares last night. I don't think I even dreamed at all," I tell him, surprised.

"That's great, Katniss!" he smiles encouragingly at me.

But behind his bright blue eyes I see a flicker of pain. Because we both know what a dreamless night means; the next night's dreams will be worse than usual. I remember the last time I had a dreamless night. I woke up feeling refreshed and relieved, and actually had plenty of energy the entire day. However, when I went to bed that night, I woke up at least five times screaming my head off, saturated in sweat and tears. Each time I woke up was worse than the next until I finally just stopped trying to sleep. I buried my face in Peeta's chest, sobbing, until dawn finally came. I shudder at the thought.

Peeta senses my distress and envelops me in a tight hug. He soothingly kisses me and whispers, "It'll be okay, honey." He rubs my back for a while before releasing the hug. "I have to go the bakery now, sweetie, but I'll see you later, okay?" He kisses my forehead. "I left breakfast on the table for you. I'll be home in time for dinner." He smiles and kisses me again.

"Thanks Peeta. I'll see you at dinner," I smile back.

He rises to go. "Have a nice day! I love you!"

"I love you too!" I tell him. I watch him leave. I listen as he climbs down the stairs, puts on his shoes, and opens and closes the door. Once I hear the door close, I get up and get dressed. After, I go down the stairs to see the breakfast Peeta made. Eggs, toast, bacon, and pancakes. To this day, I can't figure out what I did to deserve him. I hungrily eat breakfast and clean up the dishes.

I have the whole day ahead of me, but I haven't the slightest clue how to spend it. Then I remember I should probably check on Haymitch. I don't think I've checked on him in a couple days, after all. I put on my shoes and start walking over. I get to his door and start pounding with the side of my fist. No answer, of course. I don't know why I even bother knocking anymore. I push open the door and have to use my whole body weight to open it because of all the dirty clothes, empty bottles, and half-eaten plates of food in front of it. The house reeks like usual, but it's a lot messier than normal. How is that even possible?

"Haymitch!" I yell. "Haymitch, where are you?" I assume he's either drunk or hungover. I trudge through his house. "Haymitch, I don't know wh-" I'm interrupted by a miserable whimper.

"Haymitch?" I say much gentler. My heart starts to beat quicker. Is he okay? Almost in answer to my thoughts, he lets out a loud moan, which turns into another whimper. I follow the sound to the living room where I find him sprawled out on the couch, dripping in sweat and moving around restlessly. He's gripping his knife so hard, his knuckles are white. I inch closer to him. I should probably just leave him alone because I really feel like I'm invading his privacy. He wouldn't want me to see him like this anyway. I'll just come back in a few hours to check on him.

As I'm turning around to leave, he suddenly starts crying. He must be having an awful nightmare. It's agonizing to watch him, so I decide to try and wake him up. I pry the knife from his clammy fist and start shaking, hitting, and yelling, but to no avail. His hair is clinging to his face and the crying is getting worse. I would really like to avoid using water, but I don't know what else to do. I go to the sink and fill a stray cup with cold water. I walk back to him and dump the water on his head. I leap back in anticipation, knowing he will be pissed. His eyes fly open. Sitting up abruptly, he starts slashing the air with his fist before realizing dumbly that he doesn't have his knife. Then he glances over at me.

His eyes full of hatred and embarrassment, he starts screaming. "LEAVE! GET OUT! DAMN IT, KATNISS, I SAID GET THE HELL OUT!"

I waste no time spinning around and darting out. I run back home, tears welling in my eyes. I guess it was my fault for waking him up, but he's never yelled at me like that before. I was just trying to help. I grab my father's hunting jacket off it's hook and leave Peeta a pathetic note saying, "Went hunting". I run into the woods. I don't have to duck under the fence because it was taken down after the war. My original plan was to run deep into the woods, but I only make it a few feet before lamely collapsing to the ground. I'm tired and angry, so I just lie there until the sun starts going down and I feel the air starting to cool off. I know I should probably get up and go home, but I just can't muster up the energy to. I'm too exhausted and weak to do anything, so I eventually just fall asleep, not remembering that my dreams are going to be worse than usual.

Suddenly, I'm in the meadow. I look around and see Prim, Rue, Cinna, Finnick, Boggs, Mags… and my father. They are all smiling, laughing, and dancing, and I am too; they're all alive and so am I!

Rue turns to me and a huge smile crosses her face. "Katniss, come here!"

I smile and go to her. "Yes, Rue?" I ask.

"Katniss, dance with me!" she squeals excitedly. She grabs my arms and we start dancing together. My entire body is filled with a light, joyful feeling as we twirl and laugh together.

I'm so overcome with happiness that I hardly even notice the spear that has just lodged itself into Rue's stomach until she starts screaming.

"Katniss, help!" Rue screams.

I look down and see her bloody stomach. I gasp, and the happy, carefree environment is instantly replaced with terror. "I'm here Rue, it's okay!" I tell her as I gently lower to the ground. "You're going to be okay!" I try to reassure her but she is barely breathing.

I hold onto her and look around at the others. I yell to them, "Help, Rue is hurt!"

Cinna runs over to me. "Katniss, what's wrong?" He asks concerned.

"Rue is hurt really badly, Cinna! She's going to die soon, we need to help her!"

Cinna looks down at Rue, fear in his eyes. Just as he bends down to help, a group of Peacekeepers grab him and start beating him to death. I scream for help again, but when I look over, I see Boggs bleeding to death.

"Why are you letting me die, Katniss?" Boggs asks.

Before I can answer, I hear Finnick scream and look over to see him getting eaten alive by lizard mutts.

"No, Finnick!" As I scream this, Mags comes over to me and puts her hand on my shoulder, smiling at me. Then she collapses as the poisonous fog envelops her frail body.

I fall to the ground in horror just in time to hear Prim and my father yelling my name. I scramble up and start frantically running to them, but the faster I run, the further away they get. They're still screaming my name when there is a huge explosion, killing both of them.

"NOOOOO!" I scream in despair. "PRIM! DAD!" I collapse in a sobbing heap. "Prim, daddy…"

Suddenly I jerk awake. My eyes are swollen, and my face is sticky. As I try to take in my surroundings, I realize that I'm still in the woods, but I'm not on the ground anyone. I vaguely register that instead, I'm in a man's lap. I look up to see a pair of grey seam eyes staring back at me. Still half in my dream, I assume this man is my father.

"Daddy…?", I croak out. "Daddy, don't ever leave me again," I say, sobbing.

The man hugs me and says gently, "Shhh, Katniss.."

His touch relaxes me and I wrap my arms around him. "Please don't leave me," I tell him, my throat raw.

"I'm not gonna leave you, sweetheart." he replies, his voice laced with sadness.

The word "sweetheart" brings me back to reality and I become aware that my father is not, in fact, here. Instead, I realize that I'm in the concerned embrace of my mentor.

"Haymitch?" I ask confused.

"That's right, Katniss," he says soothingly with a hint of relief. "You just had a bad dream, that's all." His arms tighten around me. .

As I'm hugging him, I realize that my entire body is trembling.

"Shhh, it's okay. You're okay. It was just a bad dream, sweetheart." He strokes my hair and rubs my back. "Shhh, just a dream, you're okay."

Even though I'm still mad and embarrassed about the events earlier today, I cry into his shirt and let him comfort me. This goes on for what feels like forever. Then, he picks me up and starts carrying me out of the woods and back home, whispering soothing things in my ear. I cling to the fabric of his t-shirt, sobbing into his shoulder.

"Shh, Katniss…" he whispers quietly, "Just a dream…"

I don't even notice that we are at my house in Victor's Village until Haymitch starts kicking the door to get Peeta's attention.

The door whips open almost instantly and Peeta's there looking worried and relieved at the same time. "Haymitch, thank goodness.." he breathes as he realizes Haymitch is holding me. "Oh my god..Katniss, what happened..?" He asks as he takes in the sight of me sobbing and shaking in our mentors' arms. He opens the door wider to let us in.

"Found her in the front of woods, havin' a nightmare. She's not hurt or anything, just shook up is all." Haymitch replies gruffly.

"Oh _crap_ ," Peeta says quietly. He looks at me and takes my hand. "Oh Katniss, love, I'm so sorry, I should've known, I knew I shouldn't have gone to work today, I could've-"

Haymitch cuts him off. "Nothin' you could've done, boy. B'sides, it's too late now, best to just wait out those nightmares." Haymitch moves towards the other side of the room and carefully lays me down on the couch.

I curl up into a ball. Peeta sits down next to me and rubs my back. Haymitch sits in the recliner by the couch.

"Haymitch, thanks for going out to look for her. I was going crazy with worry when I got home and she wasn't there." Peeta says.

"No problem. S'what I'm here for." Haymitch says.

"How'd you find her?" Peeta asks in a hushed voice.

"Could hear her screamin' from a mile away. Just followed that 'til I found her." He replies.

Peeta makes an agonized sound and holds my hand. He brushes the hair from my face. "Oh, Katniss, I'm so sorry.."

Haymitch's voice drops to a barely audible whisper. "I can stay here tonight. Maybe it'll help with the nightmares if someone else is here."

I know right away that Haymitch isn't just talking about my nightmares. He probably doesn't want to go home to his cold, empty house after his own nightmare earlier.

"Yeah, I bet that would be a good idea." Peeta agrees. "Let me get you some blankets."

Once Peeta gets up and heads upstairs, I hear Haymitch stand up and walk over to me. "Hey, I'm really sorry about.. um.. about yellin' at you earlier." He stumbles over his words. "I was just embarrassed. I know you were tryin' to help."

Wow, I'm surprised he's apologizing. It's not really like him. I must've looked really upset when I left. "It's okay, Haymitch. I'm not angry." I was pretty angry earlier, but now I'm not. How could I be after he calmed me down and carried me home?

He nods. It's all that needs to be said. He moves back to his chair and sits down just as Peeta comes down the stairs, arms full of blankets and pillows.

He hands half the pile to Haymitch and takes the rest to me on the couch. He lifts my head and puts a pillow under it. Then he climbs next to me and covers us with a blanket. He holds me and whispers in my ear, "Goodnight, Katniss. I love you."

"Love you too, Peeta." I reply. I glance over to Haymitch on the recliner. "Goodnight Haymitch." I tell him.

"Night kids." He says.

Then we all fall into a blissful night of sweet dreams with no nightmares.


End file.
